Tag: art

What have you done to get out of your comfort zone? Going out on a Friday night (when you much rather be at home in your pjs eating pizza and drinking wine by yourself)? Making the first move? Skydiving?

Well, for me…. it’s something pretty crazy: Asking for help.

Sounds easy, right?

Wrong.

This is absolutely soul crushing for me. I’ve always been able to take on anything: folding laundry, doing dishes, vacuuming for an entire household all at age twelve, doing the jobs of three different positions throughout my career while only getting paid for one, working 60 hours a week with a debilitating illness. Now at thirty years old, I’m getting over it. I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and I am asking for help. It is absolutely terrifying.

What’s all the build up? What am I asking for? Short answer: your money. Long answer: I would like your help in helping me grow made by laura lee not just as a blog but as a brand and as a business. Help me be the next Martha Stewart, minus the felony. Check out the Kickstarter video! It’s beautiful and I am so proud. I hope you will be just as proud as me to be apart of it.

Yes, this year, 2016, is going to be my year of becoming just a little bit more legit. I really don’t care that it sounds corny. I’m making things happen.

I have high hopes for the next twelve months. Some of these dreams I’m hesitant to share, mainly because I’m afraid that someone will try and talk me out of them or, if they don’t happen by December 31st at midnight, that I will feel like a complete and utter failure.

So… Let’s talk about what has happened since the ringing in of the New Year.

I have moved my work into an artist studio so that I have a place to start refinishing furniture.

I have met with a graphic designer who is going to help me with a logo, branding, and advertisements.

I have received an overwhelming amount of support, interest, new clients, and donated or inexpensive, high quality furniture to start building an inventory.

I have sent in an application to the biggest craft fair in my craft fair attending history for April 2-3 in San Antonio.

I am in the works of landing my first whole sale account for my handmade wares.

Not bad for only being 18 days into the New Year, right? I’m so excited. So excited. I’m proud of what I am doing too. I have a lot to learn… like bookkeeping, accounting, writing a business plan. All that fun stuff… It’s a little overwhelming too, but in a healthy way. It’s comforting knowing I’m getting closer to something I really, really want. It’s going to be an adventure and I hope you’ll enjoy my updates: good, bad, and the crafty.

It’s true. Although, it’s not like I need to be the one to tell ya’ll that. I think a more specific statement that I am trying to make is… “Daaaaaamn, my friends are bad ass.”

Let me back up just a little bit. This past Friday, I met with my friend, Lisa. This girl takes the cake on just about everything: musician, networking, event planning, starting up her own venue, kicking off a new publication, and pedi-cabbing, just to name a few. After forty minutes of shooting the shit (as they say) we can put together an event with a side of fundraising in less than twenty minutes. (link is here) Feeling motivated from our pow-wow and my overwhelmingly successful craft fair on Saturday, I have been determined to continue with my own bad-assery. In fact, I am taking on a lot this week as I am excited to say that I have to restock my entire inventory before my next event, which brings me to….. details on that.

I will be one of the many female vendors participating in the Hysteria ‘Zine Release Party. What is Hysteria ‘Zine? Well, let me explain. Lisa, the rad friend I was telling you about, she has put together a publication, or in this case ‘zine, to provide a safe platform to present stories, art, articles, etc from a female perspective. The release party is going to be a huge event! Woman supporting one another, coming together to express themselves, their views, and share their work. Seriously, I can’t wait… but for now I’ll have to because I have to get back to crafting for the event!

Orange is the new black. Alright, admittedly I’ve never seen the show, but it’s a pretty appropriate title, don’t ya think? Meaning to say…. Citrus is in season, baby! Not just actually in season at the local farmers market, but on my blog too! I thought it would be a great idea to have matching towels with the canned goods I have prepared for this Saturdays event! So, here it is Orange Curd and Orange towels! Woot Woot!

I feel like just the other day I just wrote an entry about how I’ve been working far too much and not focusing on what matters to me. I get stuck like a hamster in a wheel or a drone working for the Queen. It’s the daily routine, the grind, the mindlessly trudging away, and when I get to the point of pausing I find myself scratching my head, “Why am I doing this?”

In the past, this hasn’t actually gotten me anywhere, in fact, it’s torn me down and landed me in the hospital. I go through cycles and I am fine working all the time, but when I come to my senses I feel the need to satisfy myself emotionally and intellectually. Not too long ago I asked my Facebook friends what I could do to switch things up or to take a break from the monotony. People recommended cutting my hair, going on tour, but the feedback that got me sitting up straight and peaked my interest were “more blog entries.” They were onto something without a doubt.

Since then, I am still working my day job just as hard as I always have, but have made an effort to focus on myself, crafting, music, and art just as much. I have been going non stop for about a month now. People have asked me, “How do you do it?” They say that I am like a machine! Maybe that’s true. Of course, giving up coffee and alcohol have been a serious contributing factor to my new found creative energy plus creativity breeds creativity.

I have never felt so fulfilled the last month as I have my entire time living in Austin. I make sure to spend at least two hours everyday doing something creative for myself. Not only am I happier but I’m sleeping better too. If that’s not great enough, I have a lot of new opportunities on the horizon, which I am looking forward to sharing more with you very soon.

I’ve been sitting at my computer for the last thirty minutes surfing the internet, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.

“Geez, there is something I need to be doing right now, but I can’t remember what it is.”

I know I have lots of work I need to do: updating menus, creating how-to guides, itineraries, checklists, blah, blah, blah. I realize, now, thumbing through the pages of the web, that I need to take care of me. I haven’t written something for me, you, a post in general, in weeks. In fact, it’s been so long that I don’t really even care to check.

Don’t get me wrong, a promotion at work is always a good thing. I’m thrilled to be working with wonderful people (I cannot stress that enough), a boss that cares about her business, employees, and that trusts me to do the right thing, and of course, a raise. The thing that sucks me in the most is I have the opportunity to make a difference, like my furniture projects, I will leave it better than I found it. The drawback is that I go head first with such gusto that I lose myself.

The not sleeping has started, my craft projects are collecting dust, my guitar.. ha! I haven’t touched it since my last show. Let me say this first: I am not complaining about work. Nope. Not here. What I am expressing is my disappointment with myself. There needs to be balance: if I’m going to polish of a pint of ice cream, I need to do some yoga the next day; if I’m going to stay up late doing god knows what, I need to make sure I rest up somewhere; and if I’m going to throw myself into work 7 days a week, I need to schedule some time for me.

This initial workload will dissipate, but I can’t burn out before then. I’ve been down this road before (flashbacks of working a 8-7/6 days a week in a windowless office, come to mind). Today marks the day that I will refocus and start balancing. Okay, maybe not today as I am taking a break from steam cleaning the carpet in my apartment, but tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow. I have my music, my furniture, my embroidery, and more. Thanks for listening and reading and your support.

The last few days of the first month of 2015 are rapidly approaching and I am thrilled with the amount of productivity that I have been able to maintain over these last few weeks. Today though, I woke up with an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

I never in my wildest dreams thought I wanted to play music. It just happened, but now, I realize that I couldn’t live without music. I love to write, sing, play, and perform. Like any field or art, there is constant room for improvement, growth, etc. Yes, I am sure, that like any field or art, there are many moments of self doubt. I feel as if I experience the later more than I should.

As an artist or a musician, each piece you create has a little bit of you in it. You offer that openly to the world for the taking, the critique, as well as the rejection. Sure, as an artist you should be able to remove yourself from that situation, but the reality is that you can’t. It is difficult not to be personally involved and even more so not to take the negative personally. I have tried very hard to avoid the negative. I find myself to be my harshest critic, therefore I am often hesitant to share my work, in this case my songs.

This month, I forced myself in a way that I have never done before to share my music. I submitted one of my songs to the Tiny Desk Concert Series Concert. Now, we will completely overlook my strong dislike for contests anyway, and embrace the notion that I took a huge step. I submitted my video to the NPR contest and was hesitant to let anyone else know that I had entered my video, but I overcame that too. Since I have let go of this fear of sharing my work out of receiving negative feedback, I have received anything but that! Nothing but good has come from it and it has proved to be a valuable lesson.

Now I have shared this video, the links and articles that it has been included in (by Ovrld and KUT Austin) all over Facebook but what I haven’t been able to mention, or at least communicate clearly enough is my overwhelming sense of gratitude to those that have liked, shared, and given me the support that I have needed! I have always felt has if I have never fit in here in the Austin music scene, this week has proven otherwise and has given me the momentum I need to keep propelling myself forward.

Thank you to the following folks for sharing links, tagging me in posts, etc. I couldn’t feel this way without you. (There are many, many more of you, but this is the beginning)

*NOTE*- I realize the winner’s of the Tiny Desk Concert Contest won’t be announced until the end of February and I most likely won’t be one of them, but for now, I am feeling like a winner! Thanks ya’ll! (Yes, so cheesey, I’m sorry)

The dust has settled and I am slowly cleaning up my apartment from the mania of 12 Days of Crafting and prepping and so on. I’m not going to lie, I had nightmares the entire week before that I wouldn’t be able to sell a single item or that no one would like anything. I am relieved and so very thankful to say that my first craft fair was a success. I am very much looking forward to participating in many more, that is right after I restock my inventory!

I did much better than I anticipated. There is a glimmer of hope that I could quite possibly continue to do what I do… and, wait for it, make a living off of doing what I love doing the most: making.

Here are some pictures from my table. I hope you enjoy! I have some items left, so if you are looking for Christmas gifts, search no further! Feel free to contact me!